We reside during a remarkable time, an age when humanity is about to cross a threshold. We are about to leave the nest and meet alien life. This blog is dedicated to the science of astrobiology: understanding space, the field of our search; exploring the one example we have of life and its abode, our Earth; reaching for the stars; imagining what extraterrestrial life may be like; and encouraging science education. Please join me for daily updates on the ultimate human adventure.

Saturday, July 04, 2009

First raw data returned from Kepler and will aliens be carbon-based?

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:gAbodes - Scientists have revealed a connection between solar activity and periods of heavy rain in East Africa. The findings show one way in which changes in the Solar System environment can directly affect life on Earth. See article. Note: This article is from 2007.gLife - It’s a question as common as brown dogs: Will alien life be carbon-based? See article. Note: This article is from 2004.gCosmicus - The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is the data archive center for NASA's Kepler mission, and has now received the first raw science data from Kepler. Now, the data can be analyzed and used to search for Earth-like worlds around distant stars. See article.gLearning - Book alert: Astrobiology is a very broad interdisciplinary field covering the origin, evolution, distribution, and destiny of life in the universe, as well as the design and implementation of missions for solar system exploration. The last section of the “The New Science of Astrobiology,” by J. Chela-Flores, consists of a supplement, including a glossary, notes and tables, which represent highly condensed ‘windows' into research ranging from basic sciences to earth and life sciences, as well as the humanities. These additions should make this book accessible to a wide readership: scientists, humanists, and the general reader will have an opportunity to participate in one of the most rewarding activities of contemporary culture. See article.

Check out these sites

About Me

I'm the owner and chief editor at Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the editing and proofreading needs of writers both new and published. For more than two decades, I worked as an award-winning journalist, with half of those years spent as an editor. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres have been published, and I am the author of the nonfiction “Hikes with Tykes” series, a novel "Windmill", and a collection of poetry, "Love Letters to Sophie's Mom". For seven years I worked as an English teacher or a community college journalism instructor. I hold a master's degree in English and a bachelor's in journalism and English.